Live blogging the game:watching the YES video and listening to the WFAN audio

First observation is John Sterling misses more than a few game details and seems to rely on the idea that people can't see what actually happened. I've decided that's part of his charm.

C.C. Sabathia does not seem to have much of a future as a junk-baller. Pretty awful, topping out at 89 mph and grooving gopher balls.

The shift: I'm amazed that the Yes cameras and John Sterling do not regularly report on the infield alignment. Consecutive Yankees grounded out to middle infielders on the wrong side of second, and there was no advance warning, no mention afterward.

I'm doubly amazed that so-called professional hitters have not figured out how to take advantage of the open spaces created by these shifts. We've talked about it here a lot over the past few years, but it is still a remarkable failing. McCann and Texiera essentially abdicated their careers rather than adapt to the defense.

Gary Sanchez may not be getting a lot of hits lately, but he still hits the ball really hard. Austin hits the ball really hard. And Judge hits it really hard, too.

Have I mentioned the elegant Chase Headley lately? He does not hit the ball really hard. I have downgraded his comparable Yankee of yore from Chicken Stanley to Stick Michael, also a switch hitter.. Can anybody figure why Torreyes gets to play for an exciting week, Headley makes some squeaky complaints to the media that he's not complaining, and then Torreyes disappears, playing a single game at short to rest Didi? Headley has made some respectable plays in the field lately, but wouldn't it be great if we had a third baseman who could hit better than a historically bad shortstop?

Suzyn is hilarious. She's a master at defending her Yankees against criticism. Her ability to find the bright side is relentless and formidable.

I was about to say that Jonathan Holder looks like the second coming of Mel Stottlemyre's rookie season, and then Stephen Souza hit such a blast to center that Ellsbury barely trotted back toward the fence. Holder looks promising, but if guys named Souza are hitting tape-measure shots, you still have work to do.

So now it's tied in the bottom of the 6th. I fear an offensive malaise is settling over our dugout. Two quick outs. McCann has two monster homers. Whoa, he didn't pull the ball. Line drive single to center. Oh, no! It's Headley! His numbers for the year are somewhat better than my projections from early May but still not what I would call respectable, acceptable or good for a Major League 3rd baseman on a contending team who is pencilled into the lineup every night except one wierd week when the substitute demonstrated more talent, power and speed. Headley grounds out to 2nd.

Girardi can't stop fiddling. Holder looked like a horse out there, except for the Souza homer, but Joey Binders replaces him with Shreve, who gives up a base hit. Sorry. I give up. I'll have to watch the rest of this thing by peeking around the corner. Maybe I'll fire up some recreational stimulants to find a better mood. Have a good evening.

It was worth all the tedious time it took to get to Tyler in the ninth. Wow. At the end of 3 John was totally out of it. Foto almost an inning hé gave Tampa a 3-2 lead, only to start the top of the fourth by saving hé had been corrected ("..... and rightly so") by Suzyn.